


Home Is Far Away

by KurosawaReika



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bad Spelling & Grammar, Chef!Levi, Eren is uke, Levi is seme, M/M, Restaurant!AU, Romance, Slice of Life, Waiter!Eren, Youn's Kitchen!AU, not ereri
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-21
Updated: 2018-05-18
Packaged: 2019-04-25 16:07:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14382195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KurosawaReika/pseuds/KurosawaReika
Summary: Eren Jaeger finally found his 'home' in that small Asian restaurant. —Riren fanfiction. Multichapter. DLDR.—





	1. First Meet

*          *          *

**a Shingeki no Kyojin fanfiction**

**Home is Far Away** **© KurosawaReika**

 **Disclaimer :** I do not own the cast. _Shingeki no Kyojin_ belongs to Isayama Hajime- _sensei_. This fanfiction belongs to me. This is a non-profitable fanwork.

 **Rate :** T

 **Pairing** : Levi Ackerman/Eren Jaeger

 **Warning :** Modern Alternate Universe. BL. OOC. Typos. Miss spelling and grammar.

*          *          *

One fine spring day in March. A young man with brown-hair walked with slow but uncertain steps. This man obviously searched something, because his green eyes, which is full of determination, kept wandering around the neighborhood. He did not see many people around in that time. The watch in his wrist showed the time was 4 pm. While walked, he heard sound of wave from afar filled the peacefulness in this little town.

In the corner of that road, there was a beautiful designed yet small restaurant. He came closer and stole a glance from the half closed door. He saw a man with black shirt stood behind the bar, busily cleaned tall glasses and arranged the wine bottles. It seems that this restaurant is closed in that moment, so this man took a deep breathe before he walked in.

That man with black shirt saw him and said, “I’m sorry, we are already closed for today.”

The brown hair man shook his head. “Ah... No. I’m not a customer.”

“Eh?”

“Um...” He hesitated for a second. “Actually, I’m looking for a job. In any chance, do you need another employee here? I can do the dishes, or serves food for the tables. I’m good at cleaning too.”

The black shirt man left his wine bottles and approached the young man. He looked closely at him. And after one minute of scanning this stranger from head to toe, he smiled. “Good timing! Actually, we need one new worker here as wait–”

“Farlan.” Suddenly, a baritone voice middled in the conversation. Man with raven hair and intimidating gaze appeared in the wall hole, that was used to serve food from the kitchen to be delivered to the tables in the hallway.

“Oh, Levi. Here. We have a new recruit here.”

“We don’t need that.”

“What?” Farlan, the name of black shirt man, confused. “What do you mean? Yesterday you asked me to find one new waiter, because these days our restaurant is getting busier.”

The man with raven hair, whose name is Levi, silenced. His grey eyes looked into the young man with dissatisfied expression.

“Excuse me, what’s your name?” asked Farlan.

The young man startled. “Eren, Sir. Eren Jaeger.”

“Eren, you can start–”

“Farlan.” Levi interrupted the business conversation again. Farlan started to feel annoyed. But he got an idea to shut Levi’s mouth up.

“How about we test him?”

Eren could feel the cold sweat in his palms.

Levi was not saying anything, but his gaze never left from Eren. So Farlan continued his sentence. “Okay, Eren, because the owner of this restaurant is a very sensitive person, so I think you need to persuade him with your own will.”

“Yes, Sir!” Eren tried his best not to let out the shaky voices from his thorat.

Farlan smiled trustworthy at him. “We have all of the cleaning stuff in there.” He pointed to a small room besides bathroom door. “And we have three tables to be cleaned.” His eyes took a glance into the tables in hallway.

Eren nodded his head while avoiding Levi’s glare.

“Okay. Let’s see how good you are in cleaning.”

He clenched his fist. “Yes, Sir!”

Without saying furthermore, Eren started to move. He went to the wastafel in the kitchen and washed his hand. Then, he went to grab the cleaning stuff. While he pulled his sleeves to elbow, he observed around. He wore a pair of gloves and small waist bag. After that, he took two clean towel and sprayer, put them within the bag’s strap.

Felt satisfy enough with his cleaning weapons, Eren came to the closest table with a tray from small shelf of eat-ware, that located below the serve-wall hole. Both Farlan and Levi did not say any comments yet. They just watched Eren’s movement and did the judging in their own head.

Eren really tried to do his best. He lifted the empty plates and wine glasses carefully, put it in the tray, grabbed all the spoons, forks, and knives, also wrapped the table clothes. He cleaned the table with towel, sprayed it and left it for a while to put the dishes in the sink. He came back with new table clothes in hand. New spoons, forks, and knives for four people was put in the tray. Before he placed them neatly in the table, Eren did not forget to dried the table with another clean towel.

Eren did the same things to other tables. Done with table preparation, Eren went to the sink and washed the dishes with rubber gloves. He also placed the food trash in different trash bag; for the recycle-able and non-recycle-able trash.

Levi watched Eren intensely. In the other hand, Farlan placed his attention to him, not Eren. He tried to figure out what his friend was thinking.

Eren broke the silence and came out from kitchen. “I’m done the cleaning, Sir.”

Farlan gave him two thumbs up while smiling widely, showing his well organized white teeth. “Good job, Eren. Thank you.”

Then he moved his gaze to Levi. “What do you think about his ability, Levi?”

Levi looked at Eren, long enough that felt like forever for Eren, and said, “It’s up to you.”

Farlan opened his mouth in awe. He was more than amazed. “Wow. Wow. Are you sure, Bro?”

Levi went back to his workplace; kitchen, without any other comments. Not even a critics. It surprised Farlan. He knew Levi so well; that he was a clean freak.

Eventhough Eren was not understand anything, he could feel something positive in Levi’s words. Farlan patted his shoulder in a very friendly manner. “Congratulations, Eren, you are hired!”

“Thank you so much, Sir!” Eren could not hide his smile.

“You can start from tomorrow.”

“Yes, Sir!”

“Um...” Farlan tried to remember something, then said, “We are open at 1 pm. But can you come here at 8.30 am? Just for tomorrow. I want to explain your job desk and introduce the other staff to you.”

Eren nodded. “Yes, Sir.”

“Great! Oh, I’m not introduce myself yet. My name is Farlan Church. I’m in charge of serves drinks and collect the money.” He laughed, then added, “That man before is Levi Ackerman, the main chef and the one who have full authorization in this restaurant. And we also have one assistant chef, who is not here today because she is not feeling well. I’ll introduce her to you tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

“Wear white shirt and black pants, precisely like your outfit today. Use your comfortable shoes because you will walk around a lot. Hm... I think that’s all. Do you have any question?”

Eren shook his head. “Not yet, Sir.”

Farlan smiled. “Good. See you tomorrow, Eren.”

Eren bowed deeply, “Thank you, Sir Church...” He met Levi’s eyes for a second and hurriedly added, “And Sir Ackerman.”

“No, no, just call us Farlan and Levi, okay?”

“Farlan.” Levi snapped.

Farlan smirked to Levi. “What?”

Levi clicked his tongue, “Tch.” He looked away from Farlan and saw Eren right in the eyes. He could saw his body flinced. “Don’t be late, Kid.”

Eren straightened his back immediately. “Yes, Sir!”

Levi’s eyes somewhat made Eren nervous. But he wasn’t try to cut their eye contact. Instead, it was Levi who did that first. And Farlan suddenly chuckled at Levi’s response. Eren blinked his eyes, did not have any clue what Farlan laughed at.

“Don’t mind him, Eren, later you will get used by his unusual behavior.”

Eren just nodded his head. Before the sun set and he left the restaurant, he turned his back once and saw Levi’s. In that moment, Eren didn’t know why Levi also turned his back, maybe only two second after his. Their eyes met. Eren felt sudden strange electricity in his spine. He hurriedly walked out without looking back.

.

.

.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The setting is inspired from Garachico, Spanyol with some modification.  
> The restaurant is inspired from Youn's Kitchen Season 2, with some modification.
> 
> I will update every chapter in 3-5 days. Hope you enjoy it! :)


	2. First Works

Eren run lightly across the town square. He said hello to some kids and old lady he passed by. In the corner, he turned left. He saw Farlan stood in front of the restaurant with a woman.

“Sir Farlan~!” Eren called from afar.

Farlan and that woman turned their head. Eren took a few deep breathe to stabilize his heart beat, after 5 minute of running.

“Easy, Eren, it’s still 8.20,” said Farlan while checked his watch.

“You arrived early, Sir...” Eren panted.

“Yeah, I want to eat breakfast outside so I came ear–”

“Hi! Are you the new waiter? My name is Isabel.” The woman besides Farlan immediately grabbed both of Eren’s hand and shook it hard. Her smile was so bright yet childish, made Eren blanked for a second because of the sudden warm welcome.

“Ah... Yes. I’m Eren Jaeger.” He bowed.

Farlan put his hand between their hand shake, to released Isabel’s too-long-grip in Eren’s hand. “Eren, she is Isabel Magnolia. Our assistant chef that I told you yesterday.”

“Nice to meet you, Miss Magnolia.” Eren bowed again.

Isabel dissagree. “Tch, tch. I’m not that old, Eren. Just call me Isabel.” She laughed a bit while hit Eren’s shoulder.

Eren smiled awkwardly. “Oh... okay... erm...”

“Call me _Onee-san_ is okay too.”

Eren tilted his head. “Eh?”

Farlan stood between them. “She watches too much anime, Eren, just ignore her. Let’s go inside and I will explain your to-do lists.” He lead Eren to enter the restaurant.

“Hey, Farlan! Don’t interfere me!” Isabel snapped and catched their steps.

“Sit down, Eren.”

Eren pulled a chair across the table. Isabel sat besides him, still nagging at Farlan.

“Okay stop it, Isabel,” said Farlan, then looked at Eren. “Here is the contract, Eren. It’s bothersome, huh? Sorry, Levi is too... how do you put it? Too perfectionist, maybe? He want everything to be clear, as transparent as oxygen in the air, so he suggest to make the contract, in order to avoid any miss-comunication or some emergency situation.”

Eren nodded. His eyes glanced at that one sheet of paper full of terms and conditions.

“Take your time to read it, Eren.”

“ _Aniki_ is too serious...” Isabel added. She joined Eren to read that contract.

Eren did not expect working as a waiter in restaurant could be that complicated. But all the points there seemed just okay for Eren, especially the wage. With that much money, he thought his salary per month was enough for paying the room rent and his living cost in one month. Maybe he could save some too.

“I’ve read it, Sir.”

Farlan took his pen from pocket. “So, how do you think?”

“I agree.”

“Do you have something to add or to be corrected?”

Eren shook his head. “No. I think it’s fine.”

Farlan smiled, and gave his pen to Eren. “Great. Okay, Eren, write your signature and your name here.” He pointed at the blank section at bottom right corner of the sheet.

Isabel hugged Eren as soon as Eren had done with his contract. “Yeah! We are friend from today, Eren!” She giggled happily.

“Oh... Yes... Please take care of me, Miss Isabel.”

“ _Onee-san_.” Isabel corrected.

“Stop, Isabel.” Farlan gave one copy of the contract to Eren, and he saved the other one. “So, Eren. You start working at 9 am. First, you buy all the ingredients such as vegetables, meat, seasoning, etc. Isabel will show you what and where to buy. Then, you come to the restaurant and clean it, includes the bathroom. We are open at 12 pm and close at 6 pm. Because lately we gain more customer, I think we will close the order at 5.30 pm. We work everday, except Saturday. You will accept the order and transfer it to Isabel, then serves the food. Don’t forget to smile and be polite to your customer.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Maybe later you can help me make the drinks, I will teach you as the time being. The menu is there.” Farlan pointed at small rack besides the wall hole. “After you get their order, check it for one more time. Also, write the number of the table. Put the copy of the order sheet in my table, I use it to write the receipt.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Um... what else?” Farlan read a list in his phone. “I think that’s enough. Do you have any ques–”

Isabel interrupted. “Can you cook, Eren?”

“Hm... just the ordinary one, like omelet and spaghetti.”

“Chop the vegetables?”

He nodded weakly. “Yes I can...”

“Isabel–” Farlan tried to stop her from saying whatever her intention was but failed.

“Great! Then, Eren can help me prepare the ingredients too!”

“What?” Farlan furrowed his eyebrow.

“It’s time effectiveness, Farlan. _Aniki_ always talk about it.”

“Time management, you mean.”

“Yeah, that. How is it, Eren?”

Eren blinked his eyes. “If I can be help–”

“That’s decided!”

Farlan sighed. “Teach him with every detail, okay. You know how Levi–”

“I know, Farlan, I know.”

He sighed again, more loudly. “You should learn how to not cut someone’s words, Isabel.”

“Let’s go, Eren.”

Isabel already dragged Eren out from the restaurant.

.

.

.

Eren carefully lift the paper bag full of fresh vegetables. Isabel received the changes and receipt, then walked out from the groceries store.

“Next is meat, in Sir Mike’s store.”

The meat store was located in the narrow street near town square. It was six minutes walk from the restaurant, and three minutes walk from the groceries store. Because Trost was a small town, every place could be achieved with walking. Most of local people used bike as their transportation. If you want to go to the other town or mountain or other place with far distance, there was town mini bus every thirty minutes. Some family or local community opened a car-rent business for the tourist.

“Where do you live, Eren?” Isabel broke the silence after busily counted money for bought the meats.

“I rent a room in Miss Hanji Zoe’s residence.”

“Oh... that old building...”

Eren nodded. He remember the wall painting in his room had tore apart, some rusts in window frame, spider’s web in the ceiling, stack of dust below the bed, and faucet that was difficult to be opened.

“Are you living alone?”

“Um... Yes...”

“No family in here? Where do you come from, Eren?”

A golden retriever dog in front of the flower shop wagged his tail when Isabel patted his head.

“Hello, Isabel. Morning errands, huh?”

Isabel smiled at woman with blonde hair inside the flower shop. “Hi, Krista. Yeah, as usual.” Then she whispered to Eren, “She is Krista Lenz, the daughter who inherited this flower shop from her parents.”

Eren looked at Krista. “Good morning, Miss.”

Krista smiled back at him. “Good morning.”

“He is our new waiter.” Isabel explained.

“Oh... Nice to meet you, my name is Krista Lenz.”

Eren bowed his head. “I’m Eren Jaeger, Miss. Nice to meet you too.”

Krista was so beautiful, typical woman with small face and pure milky white skin. Her tiny body made her even cuter. And her smile could distorted every man’s ideal woman.

“See you again, Krista, we have a lot of things to do.” Isabel caressed the dog’s ear. “Bye, Hiro.” The dog barked.

Krista waved while they walked again.

“I forgot... What are we talking about?”

Eren cleared his throat. “I came from Shiganshina.”

“Oh, it’s far from here... Then, why you came to Trost?”

Eren felt uncertain with his answer. “I was searching for a job here.”

Isabel saw Eren in his eyes, but Eren did not looked back. His gaze was down to the road below his steps.

“Have you go to Trost before?” She asked.

Eren shook his head. “No.”

“Good. I can show you around then.” Isabel sounds happy. “There are many places to visit, Eren; mountain, sea. And the local food is delicious too. I will treat you in my favorite bar.”

Finally, Eren pulled his head up and looked at Isabel. “Thank you, _Onee-san_.”

Isabel giggled. “I’m so happy to hear you call me ‘ _Onee-san_ ’, Eren, hahaha.”

“Actually, I don’t know what that’s–”

“Did you shopping with your hand or your mouth?”

A familiar baritone voice came from their behind. Eren glanced back and saw Levi stood in front of Mike’s meat store.

“Oh, _Aniki_!”

“Isabel.” Levi paused. It took one minute for Isabel to understand Levi’s sarcastic words.

“Ah. That’s the meat store, Eren.” The store that Isabel means was 10 meters away from where they stood. “Because _Aniki_ has bought it, let’s go straight to the restaurant.” She run away before Levi started to lecture her.

Eren turn his gaze to Levi, Isabel, and Levi again. Levi’s grey eyes looked directly into Eren’s. He clicked his tongue and walked pass him.

“What are you looking at?” asked Levi when he saw Eren did not move at all.

“N-Nothing, Sir.” Eren flinched and hurriedly catched Levi’s step. Unfortunately, Eren stumbled and fell. He dropped the paper bag, and the vegetables dropped to the ground. Levi stopped and saw Eren groaned while held his right knee.

“Hey.”

Eren stood up and gathered all the vegetables. “I’m sorry, Sir.”

Levi aprroached him and helped collect the carrots. Unintentionally, his hand touched Eren’s middlefinger when he tried to pick up the last potato. Their eyes met, only for a second, because Levi turned his head immediately and put the carrots in Eren’s left palm. “Watch your step, Kid.”

He carried the paper bag and gave the plastic bag full of meat to Eren without said anything, and walked away.

.

.

.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! ^^  
> If you have any correction or suggestion, let me know in with leave a comment below.  
> Hope you enjoy it. :))


	3. First Meal

Eren escorted their last customer that day with bright smile and polite bow. “Thank you. Have a nice holiday.”

Apparently, they were newlywed from Denmark who came to Trost for honeymoon. They waved at Eren and gave two thumbs up. Before the woman left the restaurant, she gave tips for Eren and gave compliment saying that the food was very good.

Eren back to inside and walked towards the table. He cleaned it in one blink of eyes. Farlan, who still wipes some wine glasses and collect empty beer bottles, satisfied with Eren’s pace. Maybe because he was young, so he could do the works as fast as possible.

“Thank you for your works, Eren.”

Eren bowed his head. “Thank you, Sir Farlan.”

“Eren, please throw this outside.” Isabel handed three big trash bags to Eren. He received it and put it in the nearest dump.

Farlan streched out. “Finally we can rest... Gaaaah, I’m so tired...”

Levi came out from the kitchen and brought four serving of _bibimbap_. He placed it in one table.

“Wow, what is it, Levi?” Farlan felt grumble in his stomach when he saw the steam from warm rice.

He did not answer and just placed the spoon and chopstick in the side of each bowl. “Isabel, bring the water.”

“Okay, _Aniki_!”

Eren came back and smelled something delicious.

“It’s been awhile to see you cook for us, you know.”

Levi was already sat down in the chair. Isabel poured the white wine into three glasses and took one bottle of cold mineral water, then sat besides Levi. “Thank you for your hard works, _Aniki_.”

Farlan smiled mysteriously at Levi. But Levi avoided his eye contact and ignored him. “Hey, Eren, come here sit with me.”

“Eh?”

“Levi cooked something for us.”

“Because there is leftover rice.” Levi added quickly. He looked at Eren and said, “It will get cold.”

“Y-Yes, Sir.”

Eren sat in front of Isabel.

“Thank you for the meal.”

Then, the four of them silently eat their meal after long day work. Today was not as hectic as few days ago. But it still consumed so much energy from their body.

“Come to think of it... today we didn’t sell _bibimbap_ that much. I wonder why...” Farlan mumbled.

Eren who was not familiar with Asian food, looked confusedly at his bowl. It contains great amount of rice, bunch of various vegetables, half boiled egg, and meat. The red sauce served in top of it. In his right side, there was chopstick and spoon. He took chopstick awkwardly and tried to grab the spinach with it.

Isabel who was focused in eating her dinner, saw Eren. She smiled and put down her spoon.

“Let me help you, Eren.”

“Eh?”

She picked up his bowl and set aside hers. “Have you ever had _bibimbap_ before, Eren?” She asked while mixed the rice together with vegetables, meat, and red sauce.

He shook his head. “No. Not yet.”

“Oh... So it’s your first time using chopstick too?”

Eren nodded at Farlan’s question.

“Do you want to break the egg?”

“Um... yes.” Eren obviously had no idea about Asian tradition in eating food. Both of his parents are western, so Eren only know about European’s table manner. He curiously watched how Isabel mixed the rice with spoon. The red sauce’s smells ached his tongue. He was so excited to taste it.

“Here. Just use your spoon, Eren.” Isabel put his bowl back.

Eren smiled at her. “Thank you so much.”

He scooped one mouthful bite of rice and meat. He chewed for few times then said, “It’s so delicious!”

“ _Aniki_ surely is the best chef in Trost.” Isabel took one big bite too.

Farlan laughed a bit at their excitement. “Glad you like it, Eren.”

Levi stole a glance at Eren while that boy busily ate his first Korean food. “Work in Asian restaurant but don’t know what Asian food is.”

Eren stopped his chewing immediately. “I-I’m sorry, Sir.”

“Leave him, Levi.” Farlan snapped at Levi. “Don’t take his words to your heart, Eren. This guy is ridiculously weird. Just ignore him.”

Levi snorted. He drank his cold water in one shot.

“ _Bibimbap_ is a Korean food. Do you know about Korea, Eren?” Isabel, who had finished her meal, tried to change the subject.

Eren thought for a moment. “K-Pop?”

“That’s right. K-Pop nowadays is very popular. The power of _Hallyu_ wave is very amazing. By the way, I love TVXQ.” Isabel laughed while Eren blinked in confuse. “How about Japan?”

“I don’t know well about Japan...”

“I will lend you my favorite _manga_ then. It’s Japanese comic. The one titled Attack on Titan is incredibly good! The _anime_ adaptation is fun to watch too. The story is about human being who live behind walls, to protect themself from–”

Farlan interrupted, “Stop bringing Eren into your _otaku_ world, you _yaoi_ fangirl.” He laughed a bit when looking at Isabel pouting lips.

“I’m not familiar with Asian country, but it sounds so interesting...” Eren added.

“Yes it is!”

Farlan done with his meal too. He poured more wine to his glass. “Because there is no Asian restaurant here, so we thought that was a good oportunity to start the business.”

“Indeed, Sir.” Suddenly Eren remembered about the menu. “Are _gimbap_ , _katsudon_ , _sushi_ , and _ketoprak_ come from Korea too?”

“ _Gimbap_ is. But _katsudon_ and _sushi_ are from Japan. And _ketoprak_ is from Indonesia.” Farlan took a sip of wine.

“Ooh, I see. So you have a lot of experience about Asian food, Sir.”

“We lived in Japan for one year. We also had some trips to Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand,” said Isabel. She felt nostalgic remembering those good old days.

Eren opened his mouth in awe. “Wow, you had traveled a lot. It must be fun visiting new places.”

“Yes! Ah, I missed Korean street food in Myeongdong...”

“How long since you open it, Sir?”

Farlan counted with his finger. “Four months. We decided to stay in Trost six months ago. And because we have to make a living, I suggest us to open a restaurant, since Levi is extremely good at cooking.” He smiled and added, “The real big deal was teaching Isabel how to cook. She almost burned our apartment once.” He laughed hard.

Eren shocked. “Eh? That’s dangerous...”

Isabel tried to prove her innocence. “It’s your fault, Farlan. If you bought the fire extinguisher that _Aniki_ told you since last week, it would not become a disaster.”

Farlan laughed harder, seems enjoyed teasing her, “Yes, Yes, Isabel.”

Isabel folded her hand in chest with annoyed expression.

“I won’t forget your face back then, Levi.” Farlan giggled.

“Sir Levi isn’t there when it happened?” Eren could not hide his curiousness. He glanced at Levi, who tried his best not to be included in the conversation with busily scrooling through his phone.

“No. He went out to buy cigarette. When he came back, the fire department was already in front of our house. His face...” Farlan bursted out laugh, made Eren tilted his head to imagine how Levi dropped his jaw or–

“I’m done.” Suddenly Levi stood and put his phone back in the pocket. He went to the bathroom when Farlan was not fully recover from his laugh.

Immediately, Eren stood up as well and collect the empty bowls. Isabel followed him with dirty spoons, chopsticks, and glasses. Farlan stayed sit in his chair, because of the stomachache he had from too much laughing.

They went back to home after checked the entire kitchen and hallway once again. Levi made sure the electricity was out, windows and doors was locked.

“Thank you for your hard work, Sir, Miss.” Eren bowed at them in front of the restaurant since he would go to the other direction.

“Yes, thank you, Eren. See you.” Farlan waved his hand.

Isabel embraced Eren. “Tomorrow we will meet in town square, okay? 9 am, better not be late.” She offered a fist.

Eren looked confused for a while before bumped their fist together. Isabel grinned widely. “Bye, Eren!”

He nodded and saw them left.

“Here, take this.”

Levi’s voice surprised him. He turned his head and found Levi was stood beside him and gave a band aid. Eren blinked his eyelids.

“Clean your scratch with alcohol. Compress your bruises with cold water for three days. After that, compress with warm water three or four times per day.”

Eren took that band aid in confuse. Levi walked away right after before he could ask what his mean was.

Eren was known with his insensitive sense. His mother complained about it a lot. Usually it was Mikasa and Armin, his two bestfriends, who warned him in before his mother start nagging. But this time, there was no Mikasa and Armin around. So the slight pain from his knee did the job to remind him, to be aware of what kind that situation might be.

.

.

.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update.... ;;;
> 
> I've been busy with rl things lately, so I think I can't consistently update this fic. But I will write as soon as possible.  
> I'm deeply apologize. /deep bow/ >///<
> 
> Thank you for reading and leaving kudos. I love y'all! ^^  
> See you in the next chapter.


	4. First Call

Night sky today was not completly dark. Bright silverish moonlight showed how calm the street was in the midnight, and the street lamp help transfering its shine to every corner and intersection. Eren walked to his little apartment while enjoying how beautiful the full moon was. He also tried to spotted some constellation, but gave up right away after seeing how many stars in there.

Eren went home after refreshed his mind and body in sea shore. He always found a way to relaxed himself with the soft wave sounds from the sea. He prefer to enjoy the night with laying for hours on those sands, instead of listening to the noisy music from dance floor.

After fifteen minutes of walk, Eren arrived at Zoe’s residence. He tried his best not to woke up his landlord in the middle of the night, so Eren tiptoed and opened his room door as slow as possible.

“BAAAAAMMMM!”

“SHIT!!!” Eren jumped and cursed. He looked behind and saw Hanji Zoe laughed out loud. “Oh my God, Miss Hanji. Please don’t scare me like that...”

Hanji Zoe, a woman with ponytailed hair and thick glasses, rolled on the floor while held her stomach. “HAHAHA. S-sorry, Eren. Actually I saw you since you opened the front door. But seeing at how much effort did you put when you tiptoed, made me want to surprise you, HAHAHA.”

Eren shook his head while trying to calmed himself from shock. “My heart is beating so fast...” He mumbled while grabbing his chest.

Hanji stood up, still laughed. “I’m so sorry, Eren...” But there was not any sincere in her apology. Eren sighed.

“You came home late, huh? Enjoying the night with girls?” Hanji teased with a smirk.

Instead of gave her an explanation, Eren handed a brown envelope to Hanji. “My rent for this month. Plus I pay back the loan from last month. Thank you so much for your consideration, Miss Hanji.”

“Oh. Finally you get your salary?”

“Yeah...”

Hanji smiled widely. “We have to celebrate it!”

“Eh?”

Before Eren could run away, Hanji pulled his hand to the rooftop.

“Miss...”

Hanji dragged him to the wooden table near the place to hung the laundry. She laid her body in there, while Eren sat besides her.

“Aah. The sky is so beautiful tonight...”

Eren looked up. This time, the moon felt closer. Its bright and clear silver rays brought melancholy feelings to these two human hearts.

“Hey, Eren...”

“Yes?”

“Have you ever think why the night sky is black?”

Eren tilted his head. “Because there is no sun in the night, right?”

“You’re right. But why the sun only appears in the day?”

“Um... Earth’s rotation?”

“Exactly.” She stretched both of her hand up in the air. “Then, is our Earth flat or round?”

Eren remembered watching some video on the internet about how our Earth actually flat, and there was massive ice wall around it. Armin showed that to him with his dad’s laptop, and caused insomnia to 13 years-old-Eren. “Are you flat-Earth believer, Miss?”

Hanji laughed. “I believe in karma.”

“What?”

“Whoever sows the wind reaps the storm.”

Eren did not understand where this conversation would lead to. “Miss, I think you drink too much...” He smelled strong alcohol from Hanji’s breathe.

She giggled. “Hey, how is Levi doing? Suddenly I miss hearing his sarcastic words...”

Eren frowned for a second. “Sir Levi is doing fine. Um... Do you know him, Miss?”

“Of course! We are drink buddies.”

He surprised. “Oh, really?”

Hanji showed a soft smile. “We know each other from long... long... time ago. When I still worked in Mr. Smith’s hospital... And when Erwin is still alive...”

Eren furrowed his eyebrows deeper. “Erwin? Who’s Erwin?”

Hanji put her hand in her forehead. Somehow Eren felt that her eyes teared a bit. Maybe it’s because of the beers...

“It’s an old and long... long... story.”

Eren wanted ask some more question, but his phone in the pocket suddenly buzzed. He took it and read the caller id.

Hanji glanced at him. “You won’t answer that?”

He sighed. Then stood and made some distance from Hanji, before pressed the green button in the screen.

“Hello.”

_“Eren... It’s me.”_

“What’s up, Mikasa?”

Silence for a while. _“... You didn’t call me...”_ That voice from the girl named Mikasa sounds sad.

Eren leaned his back on the wall there. “Uh-huh. I’m busy. Sorry.”

_“...”_

“Why did you call?” Eren didn’t want to have a long chat with her, eventhough they are bestfriends who didn’t meet for more than two months.

_“... Nothing. Just want to make sure you are okay.”_

“I’m okay, Mikasa. You don’t need to worry.”

She was quiet for a moment, felt like she want to say something but then changed her mind.

_“Armin told me... that you went to Trost...”_

“Yes.”

_“Where do you live?”_

“I’ll tell you later.”

_“Have you eat well?”_

“Yeah.”

Eren could hear her deep sigh. _“Mr. Grisha asked me about you, Eren.”_

He clenched his teeth.

_“And Zeke already moved to Mitras last week.”_

Eren tightened his fist. “I don’t want to hear that name, and you know that Mikasa.”

_“He want you to come back, Eren.”_

“No.”

 _“But...”_ Mikasa insisted.

“I will never come back to that house!” Eren raised his voice. Hanji turned his head and saw Eren’s face was full of anger.

Mikasa went silence. She realized that bringing this topic was a complete fault.

 “I have to go. Say hello to Armin for me.” Eren had no intention to make this chitchat longer.

 _“Eren_ – _”_

He hunged up the phone without said goodbye.

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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if this chapter is short. >////<
> 
> Here I give some hints about Eren's personal life. :")
> 
> Hope you enjoy it! Thanks for all the kudos, and thanks for reading my fic! ^^


	5. First Confession

Eren opened the restaurant door with his foot, because his two hands full of vegetables and meat. He looked around and didn’t see Isabel, not even in the kitchen. He turned on the lights then put the vegetables on kitchen counter. The watch in his wrist showed 9.43 am.

“Why she isn’t here yet...” Eren mumbled while washed the spinach.

“She won’t coming today.” Levi’s sudden appearance made Eren flinched.

“Sir Levi?!”

Levi grabbed his apron and wore it. “What?”

“U-uh... N-no... J-just...” Eren stuttered whenever he is nervous.

He furrowed his eyebrows and his eyes stared at Eren. “She have fever because of too much eating ice cream in the middle of the night.” Levi answered before Eren could ask about Isabel.

Eren nodded his head awkwardly. “O-oh... Hope she get well soon...”

Levi wore a glove, took the knife and started chopping the meat. Eren continued washing the spinach, then put it in the boiling water. He looked at his watch to count on how many minutes to cook the spinach. Because our main chef here didn’t give any tolerance about not-cooked-yet and over-cooked case.

“She insisted to go to work, but Farlan has tied her in the bed so she can rest.”

“Eeeh?!”

Levi put the chopped meat in a bowl. “Joke, Kid.”

Eren pouted his mouth. “Your joke is indeed on different level, Sir.” He laughed a bit. Levi always told a joke with flat expression, so it is difficult to understand whether he is serious or not.

Eren took the spinach again, rinsed it in the cold running water, and put it in bowl to be seasoned.

“I will marinated the beef and stir fry the vegetables. You clean the hallway.”

Eren paused chopping onions. “I-I can help you fry the vegetables, Sir.”

Levi looked directly at him.

“M-Miss Isabel has taught me before...”

Those grey eyes with intense gaze successfully broke Eren’s self defense. His heart would start beating fast. His palms became wet from the cold sweat. But, strangely, Eren felt like letting himself drown in weird dimention when he saw Levi’s eyes.

“Fine then.” Levi looked away and busily cut the chicken breast.

Eren smiled. “Thank you, Sir.”

Usually, it was him and Isabel who did the ingredients preparation, and Levi wasn’t there yet at that time. He went to work at precisely 11.15 am. So before he came, Eren helped Isabel and later he would clean the other stuff.

He remembered, Farlan once told him that Levi would not let anyone touched his workplace, except the people who he knew well. And today, Levi clearly gave Eren the permission to help in the kitchen. It was a big achievement!

Eren could not hide his smile, didn’t care if he looked stupid or what. After 3 months worked here, finally Eren could feel the nice sensation from being recognized by your boss.

“What are you smiling at?”

Eren immediately erased the smile. “N-nothing, Sir.”

Levi chuckled a little at his shocked face. “Do you want to be a chef?” He started the casual conversation to break the silence.

Eren shook his head. “Not really, Sir.”

“So what is your dream then?”

He thought for a while. “I don’t really know... Come to think of it, become a chef is very cool.”

Levi poured some sauce to marinate the beef. “It isn’t as easy as you think.”

“You’re right, Sir.” Eren heated the pan to fry the onions. “I love watching survival cooking competition. There is one episode, where one young woman cooked her hometown traditional cuisine, but the judge didn’t like it and throw it to the trash can. He made her cried! And I really feel sorry to her...”

Levi put the beef aside and went to sink, to rinsed the rice. “Life sure is hard, Kid.”

Eren nodded agreeing. “Armin–my friend, said that the judge is a professional chef in five star hotel, with fantastic annual salary that I can’t even imagine.”

“I’m just an amateur, but I can relate his way of thinking.”

“What was he thinking?”

Levi turned on the rice cooker. “Maybe it was to motivate her.”

“But still, wasn’t that too harsh? She cried and had been eliminated in that week.”

Levi moved to Eren’s left side to made pancake dough. “My favorite classic quote; Life doesn’t always go as you plan.”

Done with onion, Eren do the same things to carrots, shiitake mushrooms, and zucchini. “By the way, Sir, do you know Miss Hanji Zoe by any chance? She is my landlord.”

Levi stopped his hand movement for a second. It took one minute to hear that short answer. “Yes.”

Eren felt uncertain to ask more question, but his curiousity won over his hesitation. “How about Erwin?”

Levi glared at him. Eren took a chance to read his mind through facial expression but get no clue at all.

“Why?”

“Eh?”

“Why you asked that?”

Eren kinda regretted his choice, but he know he can’t turn back the time. “J-Just curious, Sir. M-Miss Hanji mentioned that name once.”

“What was Hanji told you?” Levi somehow sounds intimidating in Eren’s ear.

He gulped. “Nothing, Sir.”

Levi was the first to cut their eye contact. “That’s a cliché old friendship story.” His voice returned back to normal.

Eren just nodded his head.

“You live in that woman’s house?” Levi tried to change their topic.

“Miss Hanji’s? Yes, Sir.”

“I heard from Isabel, you come from Shiganshina.”

Eren tighten his grip on the spatula. “Yes.”

Levi looked for Eren’s green eyes. “Why you moved to Trost?”

But Eren’s head lowed and his eyes blankly stared at the carrots. “Actually I... I ran away from home, Sir.”

When Levi didn’t give any response, Eren slightly laughed. “Funny, isn’t it? A rebellious 22 years old boy who don’t know anything about how cruel the world is, trying to run away from home. So ridiculous.”

It was a bitter laugh.

“It’s not–”

“Hello, guys! Is there anything you want me to help?” Farlan suddenly entered the kitchen before Levi could finish his sentence.

“Oh... Looks like everything is ready. Good job, Levi.” Farlan took a glance from Eren’s shoulder. “By the way, Eren, have you clean the tables?”

“N-Not yet, Sir. I’m going to clean it now.” Eren left the frying pan and rushed to the hallway.

Farlan was about going to his table and organize the order sheet, when Levi called him coldly. “Farlan.”

His voice made Farlan shivered a bit. He turned around and asked, “What?”

Levi didn’t answer, but he did gave death glare to him.

“Knock before you enter.”

Farlan snorted. “But there is no door to be knocked here. It’s just a curtain!”

Levi nearly throwed the knife to his bestfriend’s head, if he don’t remember about a possibility of going to jail because of murder trial.

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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the slow update. >////<
> 
> Hope you enjoy this chapter as well.  
> Thank you for reading! ^^


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